


Death Before Decaf

by peachpick



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: And so is Kate, F/M, age difference between love interests, he is precious, i love my murder husband, they are good babies, they would just do anything for one another so quickly after meeting, this book is slow burn but now, very short chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21897259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachpick/pseuds/peachpick
Summary: Katerina Knight is the barista at the Grind, a local 24/7 coffee shop known to cater to everyone in Hell's Kitchen. For Frank, the Grind has become his safe haven as he finds himself frequenting more often than not. Even if it means that his cold heart turns warm with the taste of bitter coffee and her.
Relationships: Frank Castle/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	1. The Tragically Placed Coffee Shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank Castle visits the Grind, a 24/7 coffee shop in Hell's Kitchen, New York where he meets Katerina Knight for the first time.

**JULY 23, 2015**  
**HELL'S KITCHEN, NEW YORK**  
**THE GRIND — A 24/7 CAFE**

**THE GRIND WAS** a 24/7 coffee shop shoved into a small corner of Hell's Kitchen, New York. The cafe filtered dozens of people during the day yet barely any at night because of its tragic placement in the city. Customers came in and out all day long until the skies turned black and only a few passed through the glass doors. Since the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, or Daredevil, became the vigilante hero, the crime rates in the area had skyrocketed.

The Grind was aware of their circumstances, keeping their doors open always by the companies contract and Elian Dvoracek, the owner of that location, managed to get two people working behind the counter during the night shift for protection rather than an influx of customers. This ensured that there was always a witness, two sides of a story and someone else to help overpower or escape a threat.

Elian's brother, Henryk, had the crew go down one Sunday (shutting the store down for the first time in years) to have a group self-defense course at his studio to help them all escape problematic situations. The ones who worked the night shift and those who were more susceptible to dangerous situations were invited back for a few lessons to ensure their safety.

Katerina Knight was one of the people that worked the night shift, going to school during the day. Katerina, better known as Kate to her friends, was a wide-eyed hazel and soft featured twenty-four year old woman with a passion for the arts. She smiled with her lips pressed together because she hated the way her teeth took up half her face and always had her hair in a low ponytail because she hated the way it ticked her face.

Logan Callaway, Kate's co-worker, stood in the back, grinding coffee beans and going over inventory as Kate manned the register. 

Kate had her thick history textbook situated in her lap as she waited for customers, reading over the same dates, names and places for twenty minutes straight. Her eyes had grown thick with sleep as she just about doubled over onto the counter. The bell chimed a second later, her head against the cool counter. Slowly, she pushed herself back up, closing her textbook and shoved it under the counter.

"Welcome to the Grind," Kate greeted, glancing quickly to the man who had walked in.

He was tall. The marker on the door showed that he was at least a foot taller than her. His eyes were as dark as the night outside, piercing right into hers with a scowl making up the rest of his features. He squinted, even though it was dark inside the cafe, and stomped over to her and the counter. 

She would recognize the military stance anywhere, her brother held the same demeanor whenever he came into town. The man in front of her even had the look, his hair shaved up the sides and kept a clean cut up top. He had scars littering his face that probably had a different battle up in between each of them.

"Black coffee, please," he stated.

Kate had taken the time between when he spoke and when she would answer to notice his voice. It was rough like broken glass but not sharp. It was calm and comforting even if the rest of him looked tense and scattered.

"Miss?"

Kate felt the heat from her embarrassment rise into her cheeks.

"Sorry, uh, coming right up. Would you like to keep it coming? It's a dollar extra," she asked him, punching in the keys of the old register. She looked up after a moment to catch him nodding slightly in response. "It'll be $3.60 then," she informed him with a small smile.

He handed her a few crumpled bills.

"Sorry," he muttered as she took the bills from his calloused fingers with two hands to make sure she caught all the bills.

"Don't be," she smiled to assure him. "It's much better than wet cash, I can't tell you how many times I get that... from people's undergarments too," she explained with a small laugh, pulling out his change from the register.

Frank smiled at the edge of his mouth and let out a small breath that was supposed to resemble a laugh. She smiled a bit more at his reaction and handed over his money.

"Keep it, sweetheart," he told her, taking the mug of hot coffee she made to a booth near the back.

There was no one else in the shop, so Kate took the opportunity to make a fresh pot for the main in the back. She decided instead of falling asleep to old war stories she could do some house keeping around the Grind while waiting for the pot to fill.

After four and a half minutes, the coffee machine beeped to inform Kate that her coffee was ready. She looked up and saw the man raise his mug to show he was ready for another cup. She nodded and walked back behind the counter.

"He intimidating you?" Logan asked, his black eyes narrowing in the man's direction.

Logan had come through the swinging doors and leaned back on the granite counter top next to Kater. He crossed his arms, scowling until he was nudged in the ribs by Kate.

"No, he's fine. He's not intimidating either, neither was the guy who came in earlier," Kate teased him.

Logan was twenty and lean with a need to protect. It seemed to stem from a women's studies class he had taken on a bet. His take away from the class seemed to be something different than what Kate thought he should have learned. Now, it was his duty to protect all women from shithead men and hadn't come to realize that not all women were damsels and they weren't in distress all the time.

"I'm good, Logan," Kate assured him, her hand going to his bicep and squeezing. "I'll tell you if I need anything," she laughed, pushing her hip off the counter and removed her hand to pick up the pot of coffee to take to the man in the booth.

Kate stopped at the side of his table, pouring him a new cup.

"Do you need anything else?" Kate asked.

"Thank you," the man nodded his head, taking a sip of the black coffee before looking up at her. "Do you have a paper here?" he asked, his brows furrowing together as he sat back into his booth, man-spreading.

"No, sorry," Kate said, her lips folding down into a frown. "I'll talk to my manager about it though."

"Don't trouble yourself," Frank waved his hand at her. "That's all I needed, thanks again."

Kate nodded her head, "Call me if you need some more," she told him with a smile.

Frank nodded, folding his hands around his mug of coffee. He leaned back into the leather booth and just stared at the cafe. He drank it all in, his mind running a mile a minute as he pieced together the things he had seen before and all the things that had changed and what the fuck could he do to fix it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is my baby, and so are Frank and Kate. I love them a heck of a lot.  
> This story is also on tumblr and fanfiction.net under the same username. The plan is to update this once a day until it's up to date and then hopefully I can keep this on a steady schedule... We'll see how this goes.  
> Anyways, hope to see you next chapter and please leave a comment or a kudos on your way out. I'd really love to see how you feel about this story and about Kate and Frank.


	2. Fucking Help Her But Not Because She's A Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank comes back to the Grind because of the good coffee (and the pretty girl behind the counter).

**"WELCOME BACK," KATE** greeted at the chime of the door. The man from a few nights back stood in the door with broad shoulders and a soft scowl on his chiseled face. "Now fucking help me," she grunted.

The military man stepped across the entrance to take the heavy boxes out of Kate's arms as her knees started to quiver and her biceps about gave out on her. He hefted them up into a better grip, and as he did they were removed from her grip entirely.

"I just needed help readjusting," Kate huffed, straightening her shirt. "I can get them now," Kate stated, trying to pull the boxes back into her arms but the man had a tight grip on them and some height on her.

"I've got it," he assured her, smiling just barely to show his faint amusement. "Besides, this is pretty heavy for the average person."

Kate let out a loud sigh of relief, brushing the stray hairs that fell from her bun out of her face.

"Thank God you didn't say 'for a woman' because I'm getting really sick of my co-worker saying that to me all during our shift," Kate explained.

The man chuckled lightly, he liked how she rolled her eyes back into her head and how her hair kept falling into her face as she tried to shove it away. It reminded him of... Lisa. How he thought she would always grow up to be. Feisty just like her mother and a pain in his ass, but Kate wasn't anything like Lisa, she was soft and sweet unlike his blunt and aggressive daughter, just like his (deceased) wife.

"I'm an ex-Marine," he explained, pushing past the thoughts that had been rampaging his head for months now as he felt his knuckles go white in anger. "I have the training to carry heavy pounds of..." He took a second to look at the label on the side of the box. "...boxes of coffee."

Kate nodded her head, laughing.

"Ex-Marine, then?" Kate asked, waving her hand to show him where he could put the coffee down rather than just standing in the middle of the cafe. "I know that and yet I still don't know your name."

"It's Frank."

Kate pointed to the ground just behind the counter and Frank set it down for her. When he stood back up, he noticed Kate's hand in his face, ready to be shook. He took her hand, and Kate noticed how his whole hand wrapped around hers, enveloping her in warmth.

"Katerina, but everyone calls me Kate," she introduced.

"It's good to meet you Katerina," he whispered, their hands detaching.

Logan had then walked out of the bathroom, turned the corner to walk back behind the counter and froze like a deer caught in the headlights as he looked up at Frank. His wide green eyes jumped from Kate (who looked relaxed) to Frank (who stood near her non-threateningly) and then the small space between them.

"Kate!" Logan shouted. "Stand back and let me handle this!"

Logan had positioned himself with his hands out, trying to remember the self-defense moves Henryk had taught them but Kate remembered how he had been flirting with Evan, an old co-worker of theirs.

Frank raised an eyebrow at the scrawny young man trying to fight him.

"Logan," Kate scolded him. "He was just helping me put the shipment down since you were in the back and I was about to spill all of the beans on the floor."

Logan stared at Kate long and hard just to make sure what she was saying was the truth and that Frank hadn't threatened her into saying those exact words. He lowered his guards after a minute and slowly the horror of what he had done started to leak into his bloodstream. Logan turned as red as his hair, the freckles on his cheeks disappearing as he shrunk into himself and pushed past the two in embarrassment.

"I-I'll be in the back," he whispered to Kate as he passed her and threw himself into the double doors that led into the kitchen.

Frank watched as Logan ran off, the kid hadn't been more than nineteen and yet he was ready to fight a strong man that was twice as old and big as him just for Kate. He had to admire that of him, even if it seemed to bother Kate for the reasons behind his activism.

"Is he alright?" Frank asked.

"It's..." Kate sighed, rubbing her hand against her forehead as she turned to look back at the doors and then back to Frank. "A long story about college and self-defense classes," Kate explained, walking over to the register. "Want a coffee before?" she asked, and he nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love them and they're already so soft for each other. I love Frank and Kate so much, they're so soft for one another and it's only going to get better (and maybe worse because it's Frank).
> 
> Thank you to everyone for coming and reading this story. I appreciate every read, favorite, and comment that is sent my way. You guys are what keep me writing. I hope to see you soon!
> 
> Anyways, hope to see you next chapter and please leave a comment or a kudos on your way out ♡


	3. Is It A Haunting or Sleep Deprivation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate hasn't slept in days, and Frank's worried.

**JULY 25, 2015  
THE GRIND**

**KATE JUMPED TEN** feet in the air when the bell chimed and Frank walked inside. She had been staring straight at the door but her mind had wandered far past the shop. Frank gave her an odd look as he walked in but said nothing as he ordered. She had tried to shake off the feeling so he wouldn't pry, but Frank could see her jump and look over every corner of the Grind the longer she sat on her hard wood stool.

"You alright, sweetheart?" Frank asked her, against his will.

Kate turned to him, her hazel eyes to him, wide and frightened before she slowly pushed herself off her stool and walked over to his booth. She wrung her hands and slid into the booth in front of him.

"I have a very serious issue I need to discuss with you," Kate said seriously, filling his cup with the coffee she brought with her. Frank's question seemed to spark the right part of her that had her bearing her heart to him.

Frank felt his hands grow sweaty, thinking that somehow she had found something on the park or his life before it all went to shit, but he moved past his thoughts and asked her, "What?"

There was a long pause as Kate pursed her lips, made herself comfortable and folded her arms in several different ways until she landed on having her hands set together on the table in front of her.

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

Frank took a longer pause than her, staring a hold through Kate's eyes. His eyebrows dropped from intrigue and into his normal frown that deepened as he stared at the naive twenty four year old he had come to consider the closest and furthest thing from a friend since the incident.

He took a long sip from his coffee, never breaking eye contact as he watched Kate fidget in her seat, waiting for his answer. He set the cup back down, letting out a long sigh and somewhere in the back of his mind, hoping she wouldn't press on it again.

"Well?" she asked, seconds after his thought.

"No, Katerina, I don't," he told her.

Kate rolled her eyes, "That's what Claudia said, but I'm pretty sure we're haunted."

"Pretty sure doesn't sound sure enough," Frank stated.

"I'm positive we have ghosts," Kate corrected herself to get him to listen to her.

"Well then," Frank barely laughed. "I guess you have a real problem."

Kate slammed her head against the table in defeat, her dirty blonde hair falling around her like a crown. Frank noticed it was the first time he had seen her with it down.

"How long has it been since you've slept?" Frank asked, wiping some of her hair off his arm.

"Why?" she asked, muffled against the table.

"I think you're imagining things," he grunted.

"When I'm dead, don't think I won't haunt you for that comment," Kate threatened.

She didn't move for the next half hour, Frank reaching over her head to grab the coffee pot to pour himself another cup. Penny had taken over the counter after she finished cleaning the women's restroom. She walked over to Frank to remove Kate from bothering Frank. but he waved his hand and assured her she was fine. There was no one else inside the cafe anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter, I'm sorry, but this does has some impact later on in the story.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is my baby, and so are Frank and Kate. I love them a heck of a lot.  
> This story is also on tumblr and fanfiction.net under the same username. The plan is to update this once a day until it's up to date and then hopefully I can keep this on a steady schedule... We'll see how this goes.  
> Anyways, hope to see you next chapter and please leave a comment or a kudos on your way out. I'd really love to see how you feel about this story and about Kate and Frank.


End file.
